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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 53 No. 11
Thursday, March 16,1972
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
In Anointing
In the midst of the pain and anxiety that a serious illness brings, it is hard not to become obsessed with our own troubles and
overcome with our own fears. Someone as sick as the woman shown here needs relief, not only relief from her pain but the comfort
that the presence of another person can bring. Any very ill person feels these needs. In the sacrament of Anointing, God responds
by assuring the sick person of His presence and helping him to overcome the tendency to become completely self-centered.
The picture appears on the front of leaflets which are to be distributed throughout all parishes on March 19, the last Sunday of
Lent. They form part of the Diocesan Lenten Program, “Love - Sacramental Style" and are planned for use in the home as well as
for adult and high school discussion groups. Children in elementary schools use the same photograph for picture-study. The Lenten
Program involves a study of five of the seven sacraments, each sacrament being seen as God’s response to a specific human need. In
this last week of the Lenten season, it is shown that God answers the sick person’s need for strength and reassurance in the
sacrament of Anointing.
DIOCESAN CONSULTORS
IN MACON OR AVGVSTA
Diocese Planning
Diaconate School
By Grace T. Crawford
Macon News Staff Writer
Surrounded by books, records and papers in his paneled study, the Rev. William V. Coleman, pastor of St.
Joseph Catholic Church, Macon, is planning a school.
It will be one of 15 in the nation and one of two in Georgia. If plans proceed as expected, it will open either
in Macon or Augusta next September, or possibly Jan. 1,1973.
The students will not be the usual variety in high schools or colleges. They will be husbands and fathers
employed in full time jobs who will become a part of perhaps the most significant development regarding lay
leadership in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. They will be ordained lifetime deacons, performing the
same services as the priest with the exception of saying mass.
The new stationery in Father
Coleman’s study tells the story -- The
Permament Diaconate. The word comes
from the New Testament. It refers to the
men the Apostles designated to assist in
the work of the early church. It means
deacon. “In a way,” Father Coleman said,
explaining the program, “there has always
been a diaconate in the Catholic Church.
The year before a man is ordained to the
priesthood, he is ordained deacon. But no
one has ever served more than a year.”
The move to restore the permanent
diaconate to the Roman Catholic Church
began at the Second Vatican Council, “In
this country, it was implemented in
1963”, he said. “General directions to the
church were studied on an international
level. Guide lines were thrown out to the
American bishops, and they, in turn have
studied them and issued national
guidelines.”
After additional study by each
Catholic diocese, 15 in the United States
have set up offices for The Permanent
Diaconate. Two of them are in Georgia --
the Savannah Diocese, of which Macon is
a part, and the Atlanta Diocese.
The men ordained as deacons will not
be considered lay leaders, but members of
the clergy, according to Father Coleman.
They will be selected by a screening
committee and will participate in a three
to four year preparatory program in the
diaconate school. The preparation for
their lifetime duties as deacons will
include theological training, pastoral and
practical training and personal formation.
Father Coleman said the first
qualification is that a man “be settled,
ordinarily married with a family,
probably a man in his 30’s or 40’s, and
one with a general desire to serve others
inside and outside the church.”
As director of the Office of The
Permanent Diaconate for the Savannah
Diocese, Father Coleman is busy with
plans for the school which the students
will attend in their free time from their
regular jobs. “This probably would
include one or two full weekends a
month,” he said, “with part of their
training being done in the parish in which
they live one or two nights a week. Some
additional time would be spent in school
(Continued on page 2)
INSIDE STORY
St. Patrick
FATHER WILLIAM V. COLEMAN, pastor of St. Joseph’s parish, Macon, and
recently-appointed coordinator of the permanent diaconate program for the diocese of
Savannah, discussing plans for the establishment of a school for the training of
Deacons.
9
HEADLINE
tf
HOPSCOTCH
Diocesan Pastoral Council
The Diocesan Pastoral Council has adopted a resolution expressing “appreciation
and thanks to all who, by their dedicated efforts, helped to bring about the defeat of
House bill 647 during the recent session of the Georgia House of Representatives. This
bill, if passed, whould have made Georgia an abortion-on-demand State, and would
have meant yet another advance for an anti-life philosophy which is being foisted on
the public as a panacea for many of the ills which beset our modern society.”
Vocation Day Programs
WASHINGTON (NC) -- The U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) youth activities
division has launched an effort to make an upcoming world day of prayer for
vocations meaningful to youth. The division has prepared a package - available from
the national office here -- of program and liturgy suggestions for the vocation day, to
be celebrated Sunday, April 23. Pope Paul VI proclaimed the first world day of prayer
for vocations in 1963.
Catholic Press Briefing
Priest-Senators Named To Board
In a move to strengthen and broaden
representation on the Board of Diocesan
Consultors, Bishop Gerard L. Frey has
appointed all Diocesan Clergy members
of the diocesan Priests’ Senate as
members of the Board. There are nine
such priest-senators.
They will serve terms concurrent with
their elected terms as priest-senators, but
not more than three years.
Others appointed to three year terms
on the Board of Consultors are the Rev.
Msgr. Andrew J. McDonald, Vicar
General; Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Bourke,
Diocesan Comptroller; Very Rev. J. Kevin
Boland, Chancellor. Father Boland will
also be Executive Secretary of the Board.
Father John Cuddy, pastor of St.
James parish, Savannah, is the only
“hold-over” from the past Consultors’
Board. Terms of the other past members
have already expired. Father Cuddy’s
term will expire in August.
The three Religious priests on the
Priests’ Senate have been appointed
Consultants to the Board.
The Consultors are charged by Canon
Law to assist the bishop in an advisory
capacity on diocesan matters such as the
drawing of parish and deanery lines,
establishment of new parishes and the
setting up of diocesan policies and
planning.
The Board of Consultors will hold
three regularly scheduled meetings per
year and such other meetings as the
bishop may deem necessary.
The first meeting of the expanded
Board of Consultors will take place at the
next meeting of the Priests’ Senate.
Pg. 2
Commentary
- Pg. 4
Readers Reply
Pg. 7
25 Years Ago
Pg. 8
WASHINGTON (NC) -- The White House is considering providing a special briefing
for representatives of the Catholic press, a member of the staff of the White House’s
director of communications said. No decision has been made on a date or the names of
those to be invited, said staff member Ed Blecksmith. He said the Catholic press is
among several “special interest” press groups being considered for special briefings.
Confirmation of these White House plans came after 90 publishers and editors of
Jewish publications attended a day-long briefing at the White House, complete with a
Kosher luncheon for those who wanted it.
Masons, Knights Praised
CHICAGO (NC) - Cooperation between Masons and the Knights of Columbus was
described by Father John A. O’Brien as a striking example of grassroots ecumenism. If
the two groups fully united, the University of Notre Dame theologian said, “they
could help eradicate religious misunderstandings, prejudices and bitterness and provide
needed support for every undertaking to advance the social and moral welfare of the
community.” In his talk to an ecumenical meeting sponsored by the Chicago Lawyers
Shrine Club, Father O’Brien said that Masons and Knights of Columbus began to
improve their relations a decade ago. Joint national meetings took place in 1968 and
now cooperative efforts are common.